This and That

We'll see how much of this I can get down... I was trying to be wise and use Mal's nap time well by putting dinner together. Instead, the first thing I did was to open the quinoa poorly, spilling it all over the kitchen floor, requiring a 15-minute sweep job that did not get it all up, but at least means I'm not getting it embedded into the soles of my feet whilst I work.

Oh well. Here goes:

See that kid up there? He just moved into the largest "baby" diapers we can purchase. He's not even two yet. If he outgrows these (they just say "37+ pounds," but I'm sure there's a cutoff somewhere, most likely his legs), we'll have to start forking over the major bucks that diaper-makers seem to think parents of elementary-aged kids who still need them can fork over.  Did I mention that he's still a year old?

Speaking of that, he officially cannot wear anything that's smaller than a 3T anymore. I'm bummed because I bought these very cute 3T shorts from Bert's Bees, but the waists were too big. They have ornamental drawstrings... why not just put ACTUAL drawstrings, dude? Anyway, we tried them on the other day, and the waists are STILL too big, but now the rise is getting too short. So he probably won't ever be able to wear them.

In other (kid) news: D's tablet has been with the manufacturer getting a tune-up for a couple of weeks. In its absence, she's rediscovered a passion she used to have: slime. On her own, she's researched various "recipes," made a list of what she needs, made test batches, and tweaked formulas to achieve the feel she wants, and has generally made a huge mess (but also cleaned up after herself). She said she's not sure of the science behind why what she's doing works, but she's curious. Curious is good. It's fun to see her "playing," and it's been nice to have her hanging out in the common area a little more than usual. Don't worry; we'll try not to get used to it.

James is plugging away at work. He realizes he has a good job, and that's good for all of us. I know if he didn't have a family, he'd be just as happy doing day labor and chilling when he didn't need money. I appreciate him. I love that he has every other Friday off, just wish his commute weren't so unpredictable and generally long, even on good days. We're trying to fix that shortly. (See what I did there?)

As for me, I'm almost three weeks into trying to "re-calibrate" my eating. Over the pregnancy and breastfeeding, I've gotten used to eating whatever, whenever. It seems like Mal's "on" every ten minutes, but I don't know how much he drinks anymore. I know he's still getting some milk, though, because when he had a stomach bug several weeks ago, he didn't eat anything for two or three days but never got dehydrated and had a day of newborn-like breast milk diapers. Anyway, I can tell that I've been starting to put on some weight, and I don't want that. I'm already dealing with the body changes that come postpartum and from entering middle age. So I decided to rein it in.

The thing is, I don't have a scale, so I have no idea what I weigh, and I don't have an iron-clad goal in mind. I just want not to have to look away at candid pictures of myself, and I want my clothes to be comfortable, not ride up or bunch, etc.

SparkPeople has decided that I likely burn about 1800 calories just hanging around being alive and all, so it's tabulated that I can safely ingest about 1550 calories per day. It is extremely likely that this is about half of what I was consuming before, so it hasn't been a gleeful three weeks, I'll tell you that much. But now that I'm starting to get used to it, it's better... even if I've often already eaten dinner by the time James gets home at or around 8 PM.

In the past few days, I've felt like I can start to see a difference. It might just be that I'm not full and bloated all of the time. Who knows. But I'm glad, because I hate hate hate having to think this much about what I eat, spend time inputting it, etc. It needs to be doing some good if I'm going to work on it. It's so boring and stupid. Seriously. I hate it. Necessary evil and all.

Along with that, I changed over from the kid-friendly eMeals program to the portion-controlled one (easier to keep track with all of the nutritional info). They have entrees and side dishes that are typically 500 calories or less. So far. I've loved them all, and so has the family. They get more than one serving, as it makes enough for six people; one's been working for me, though.

Coming up: James is off work Friday. The following weekend is Mal's birthday (!). Less than 2 weeks until the first Presidential Debate, and I want to make it like a Super Bowl party thing up at the clubhouse. No takers so far, but I'll totally do it, anyway. The Round Rock Chalk Walk is in 2.5 weeks; James hasn't been to that before. One month until we go to the State Fair of Texas (gosh, I wish we could make it to the Oklahoma Sugar Arts show the week before that). About 6 weeks until Mal and I go to a big homeschool Halloween party at the Thinkery. Less than 2 months until D turns 15 (!). We're planning to spend Thanksgiving at Port Aransas. Our lease is up in 31 weeks. So we have a lot going on. I love this adventure with my favorite people!